Notes to Part VII, Articles 227 to 230-Continued the whole current of democratic progress and international friendships throughout the world". For these reasons the Allies refused to accept the arguments of the German delegation against the trial of William II. The punishment of those responsible for the war was "essential on the score of justice" and might be "a deterrent to others who, at some later date, may be tempted to follow their example" (ibid., p. 957). The ex-Emperor was “arraigned as a matter of high international policy, or the minimum of what [was] demanded for a supreme offence against international morality, the sanctity of treaties and the essential rules of justice". The tribunals against which the German delegation complained would "represent the deliberate judgment of the greater part of the civilised world"; neutrality would not be admitted, for the arraignment of the ex-Emperor would be judicial only in form, not as to substance. On June 22, 1919 the German delegation addressed to the President of the peace conference a note sent under instructions from the Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs in which it was stated that “the Government of the German Republic engages to fulfill the conditions of peace imposed upon Germany", with the exception of articles 227 and 231. The eleven hundred words of the note watered down that engagement considerably, but the note ended with this formal declaration: "The Government of the German Republic is ready to sign the treaty of peace without . . . undertaking any responsibility for delivering persons in accordance with Articles 227 to 230 of the treaty of peace." This declaration was signed "Bauer, President of the Reich Ministry." The reply of even date stated that the Allied and Associated Governments could "accept or acknowledge no qualification or reservations and must require of the German representatives an unequivocal decision as to their purpose to sign and accept as a whole. or not to sign and accept the treaty as finally formulated. "After the signature the Allied and Associated Powers must hold Germany responsible for the execution of every stipulation of the treaty." The unconditional acceptance by the German Government on June 23 is a formal record of the fact that Germany lost the war of 1914– 18. The note read: Notes to Part VII, Articles 227 to 230—Continued "The Government of the German Republic has seen with consternation from the last communication of the Allied and Associated Governments that the latter are resolved to wrest from Germany by sheer force even the acceptance of those conditions of peace which, though devoid of material significance, pursue the object of taking away its honour from the German people. The honour of the German people will remain untouched by any act of violence. The German people, after the frightful sufferings of the last few years, lacks all means of defending its honour by external action [against the outside world]. Yielding to overpowering force, but without on that account abandoning its view in regard to the unheard-of conditions of peace, the Government of the German Republic therefore declares that it is ready to accept and to sign the conditions of peace imposed by the Allied and Associated Governments". Wilhelm II of Hohenzollern had abdicated as emperor of Germany, but not as king of Prussia, by decree on November 9, 1918: he was across the Netherlands border by the time the decree was public. For an account of an attempt to kidnap him in January 1919, see Foreign Relations, The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, 11, 85. He remained in his internment until his death on June 4, 1941. In the interval of nearly 23 years he had no political, and but little personal, influence upon the course of affairs in Germany. As stipulated in article 227, paragraph 4, the president of the peace conference addressed to the Netherlands Minister of Affairs on June 28, 1919, date of the signing of the treaty of peace, a note concerning the rendition of the German ex-Emperor. The note stated that the person under notice represented the military party of Germany and that his being at large would revive their hopes and menace the peace obtained at great cost and not yet fully assured. The Allied and Associated Governments suggested to the Netherlands Government that guarding the ex-Emperor involved a heavy responsibility, which neutral Netherlands did not seek and which entailed an ungrateful task that the Allies and Associates were disposed to assume. The Netherlands Minister of Affairs replied succinctly on July 7: "The Royal Government is conscious of its international obligations; it is likewise conscious of not having failed in fulfilling them. "With reference to the matter raised by the communication of the Powers, it must reserve to itself the free exercise of its sovereignty Notes to Part VII, Articles 227 to 230-Continued with respect to the rights which appertain to it and to the duties incumbent upon it." The president of the peace conference addressed a second note to the Netherlands Government on January 16, 1920, within a week after the treaty of peace had entered into force. The Netherlands Government was informed that the powers had decided to execute article 227 without delay. "In consequence, the Powers address to the Government of the Netherlands the official demand to deliver into their hands William of Hohenzollern, ex-Emperor of Germany, in order that he may be judged." After reviewing the acts for which the government that he headed was responsible, the note defined the special character of the arraignment in virtue of article 227. "They have", the note said, "the duty of insuring the execution of article 227 without permitting delay by arguments because there is not in question the circumstance of a public accusation basically of a juridic character but an act of high international policy imposed by the universal conscience, in which the forms of law have been introduced solely in order to assure the accused such a body of guarantees as public law has never known." In his reply of January 23, the Netherlands Minister for Foreign Affairs repudiated the implication that it had a duty of rendition similar to that incumbent upon Germany as a result of article 228. The Netherlands Government energetically rejected any suspicion of a desire to "cover with its sovereign law and its moral authority violations of the essential principles of solidarity of nations, but it cannot recognize an international duty of associating itself with the act of high international policy of the powers. If, in the future there was instituted by the League of Nations an international jurisdiction competent to judge, in case of a war, acts that are qualified as crimes and submitted to sanction by a prior statute, the Netherlands would properly associate itself with this new regime." As things were, the Government admitted a duty only under the laws of the kingdom and the national tradition which was that at all times the country was a "land of refuge for vanquished in international conflicts". The general arguments of the reply on February 14, 1920 did not shake the position of the Netherlands, which was reiterated in that Government's note of March 2. The correspondence closed with a note of March 24 from the British Prime Minister in the name of the Allies, which recorded Notes to Part VII, Articles 227 to 230-Continued knowledge of the issuance by the Netherlands Government of a royal decree assigning a definite place of internment to the ex-Emperor in the province of Utrecht. This decree was supplemented by an undertaking of the Netherlands Government to assume complete responsibility for the custody of the ex-Emperor, the control of his correspondence and his relations with the outside world. The Allied Governments, the despatch said, "take note of this undertaking as indicating the serious intentions of the Dutch Government to mitigate the perils that may result from the presence of the exEmperor on their soil." The note closed with a warning that, if the person in question should become a center of reactionary propaganda and a menace to peace, "the Netherlands Government cannot escape the exclusive responsibility, both for the event and for its consequences, which they have thus deliberately chosen to assume”. The note of the Supreme Council dated May 5, 1921 found Germany in default as regarded fulfilment of article 227, and the German Government on May 11 stated its resolve to execute the unfulfilled portions of the treaty. ARTICLE 228. The German Government recognises the right of the Allied and Associated Powers to bring before military tribunals persons accused of having committed acts in violation of the laws and customs of war. Such persons shall, if found guilty, be sentenced to punishments laid down by law. This provision will apply notwithstanding any proceedings or prosecution before a tribunal in Germany or in the territory of her allies. Text of May 7: The German Government recognizes the right of the Allied and Associated Powers to bring before military tribunals persons accused of having committed acts in violation of the laws and customs of war. Such persons shall, if found guilty, be sentenced to punishments laid down by military law. This provision will apply notwithstanding any proceedings or prosecution before a tribunal in Germany or in the territory of her allies. The German Government shall hand over to the Allied and Associated Powers, or to such one of them as shall so request, all persons accused of having committed an act in violation of the laws and customs of war, who are specified either by name or by the rank, office or employment which they held under the German authorities. Note to VII, 228 The German delegation declared that violation of international law by individuals should be punished (Foreign Relations, The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, vi, 900). On the other hand other violations committed by nationals of both parties under the strain of war should be forgotten, and an amnesty had usually been included in treaties of peace. In the lack of such provision, Germany proposed that each state grant an amnesty to nationals of the other party for punishable acts committed under stress of war, provided they were not contrary to the laws and usages of war. Since the treaty provided for the reexamination of German court decisions in civil cases by the mixed arbitral tribunal, the same privilege should be extended to criminal cases. Finally, Germany protested against the treatment at the hands of occupation officials of persons in Alsace-Lorraine and the Palatinate whose actions were covered by German laws in force. The president of the peace conference on February 3, 1920 transmitted to the German Peace Delegation lists of "the persons whose responsibility appears to be the most seriously involved" which had been drawn up by the British, French, Italian, Belgian, Polish, Rumanian, and Serb-Croat-Slovene Governments. The list contained the names of over nine hundred persons and included the names of political, military, and naval leaders. The Germans then represented that the first reply to this communication succeeded in modifying the treaty. That reply, of Freiherr von Lersner, of even date (United Kingdom, Protocols and Correspondence between the Supreme Council and the Conference of Ambassadors and the German Government and the German Peace Delegation between January 10, 1920, and July 17, 1920, Respecting the Execution of the Treaty of Versailles of June 28, 1919, No. 32, Cmd. 1325), said: "This evening your Excellency transmitted to me a note containing the names of those Germans whose extradition is claimed by the Allied Powers. In the course of the last three months, I have most solemnly laid before the representatives of the Allied and Associated Governments, ten times in writing and thirteen times orally, the reasons which make it impossible to comply with such a claim, whatever the attitude adopted by the accused and whatever their names. "I must remind your Excellency of my constantly repeated statement that no German official would be prepared to assist in any way |